S8 
/ 1 



LOUISIANA 

BBEF 
CATTl^E 



LOUISIANA 

BEEF 

CATTLE 



WILLIAM GARTER STUBBS, Ph.D. 

Formerly Professor of Agriculture 

Louisiana State University and Director of 

State Experiment Stations 






COPYRIGHT, 1917, BY 

THE LOUISIANA COMPANY 

NEW ORLEANS 



APR 20 1917 

«)ci,A4Gi;i.:9 



FOREWORD 

The following remarks relative to Louisiana Beef 
Cattle are proffered the public to show the marvel- 
ous advantages possessed by the alluvial lands of 
Louisiana, for the growing of cattle. 

An intelligent use of these advantages will bring 
wealth to the individual, the State and the Nation. 

William Carter Stubbs, Ph.D. 



LOUISIANA BEEF 
CATTLE 




:OTE wealth-producing possibilities of cattle- 
raising are written into the history, litera- 
ture and art of every race; and with every 
nationality riches have always been count- 
ed in cattle and corn. 

We find cattle mentioned in the earliest known 
records of the Hebrews, Chaldeans and Hindus, and 
carved on the monuments of Egypt, thousands of 
years before the Christian era. 

Among the primitive peoples wealth was, and still 
is, measured by the size of the cattle herds, whether 
it be the reindeer of the frigid North, the camel of 
the Great Sahara, or herds of whatsoever kind that 
are found in every land and in every clime. 

The earliest known money, in Ancient Greece, was 
the image of the ox stamped on metal; and the Latin 
word pecunia and our own English "pecuniary" are 
derived from peciis — cattle. 

Although known to the Eastern Hemisphere since 
the dawn of history, cattle are not native to the 
Western Hemisphere, but were introduced into 
America during the sixteenth century. 

Cortez, Ponce de Leon, De Soto and the other 
conquistadores from Old Madrid, who sailed the seas 
in quest of gold, brought with them to the New 
World the monarchs of the bull ring, and introduced 
the national sport of Spain into the colonies founded 
in Peru, Mexico, Florida and Louisiana. 



[4] 



LOUISIANA BEEF CATTLE 

The long-horned, half -wild herds encountered by 
the pioneers, and by the "Forty-niners," who three 
centuries later trekked across the continent in quest 
of gold in California, were descendants of the bull 
pens of Mexico City, St. Augustine and New Orleans. 

A different type of cattle was brought over to 
Jamestown, the first English colony, in the seven- 
teenth century; these were strictly utilitarian, de- 
signed for the triple service of enriching the larder 
with dairy products, supplementing the abundant 
meat supply of buffalo, deer and other game and 
providing the ox as the draft animal. 

The pioneers, striking out from the Atlantic sea- 
board, carried with them their domestic cattle, which 
were introduced and fostered wherever settlements 
were made in their progress across the continent. 

It was not until after the Revolutionary War that 
wealthy planters of Virginia imported Herefords from 
England, Jerseys from the Isle of Jersey, and the 
flower of other Old World herds. 

Even then, extensive breeding of high-grade animals 
languished for years, owing to the unprogressive farm- 
ing methods; and at a later period on account of the 
dominancy of the Western cattle ranges. 

The public domain of the West and Southwest, 
owing to the vast areas of grazing land which cost the 
cattlemen nothing, became the controlling factor in the 
American cattle industry, reaching its climax about 
1880. 

Subsequently these great feeding grounds were 
invaded by the sheep-grower, whose flocks destroyed 
the pastures and drove out the cattle wherever they 
appeared. 

The death knell of the national cattle range was 
sounded by the United States Government in throw- 
ing open the public lands to settlers. 

During the romantic period of the cattle outfit — the 

[5] '^ 



LOUISIANA BEEF CATTLE 

cowboy with his bucking broncho, lariat and six- 
shooter — many of the important cities and towns of 
today came into existence as humble adjuncts of the 
live stock industry. 

There are men living today who have witnessed the 
beginning, the rise, and almost the extinction, of the 
Western cattle range. 

A complete revolution has been brought about in 
the cattle industry within a lifetime. The change has 
been a rapid one from the free range to the fenced 
pasture; the open ranges turned into farms and 
settlements. 

With the advent of changed conditions, the rancher 
of restricted territory and reduced herds ceased to be 
an important factor in directly supplying the market, 
as he was forced to utilize the land that was not 
desirable for homesteaders, and the pasturage being 
insufhcient to suitably fatten stock, he was compelled 
to ship his cattle to the feeders of the Middle West to 
prepare them for market. 

Meanwhile, the Middle West, or corn-belt states, 
being unable to raise cattle in an economical way, 
developed into a feeding station, where young cattle 
from the Western ranges were shipped to be fattened 
and prepared for the market. 

With the decrease of range cattle, year by year, 
fewer Western beeves reach the corn belt to be fin- 
ished and made ready for market. 

The early settlers of Southern Louisiana raised 
cattle after the fashion that prevailed on the plains 
of Texas; that is, great herds without care or atten- 
tion of any kind increased and multiplied and were 
annually rounded up and marketed; the returns were 
virtually all profit, as the cattle found their suste- 
nance entirely in the luxuriant natural pasturage. 

With the change of conditions in the cattle-growing 
world, Louisiana began the improvement of its herds. 



LOUISIANA BEEF CATTLE 

so that today there are thousands of highly bred 
cattle in the state, equal to the best that can be found 
anywhere. 

In a consideration of any branch of the live stock 
industry, a review of the world-wide conditions be- 
comes necessary to establish a standard of comparison 
between the industry in a given locality as against all 
other localities, and such a review at the present time 
shows an international shortage of beef cattle that 
even threatens famine. 

The day of nondescript cattle of inferior quality is 
rapidly passing. Through breeding, they are being 
steadily supplanted by higher grade, perfectly devel- 
oped animals which 3'ield the proper proportions of 
lean and fat, whose meat is tender, nutritious and 
palatable. 

The Old World breeds have been improved and 
perfected, through the skill of the American grower, 
until American stock has become the standard of the 
whole world, from the standpoint of excellence in 
every particular. 

There are a multitude of reasons why it will never 
be possible for the growers of the Eastern Hemisphere, 
with the exception of Great Britain and the Scandi- 
navian countries, to successfully compete with the 
United States in bringing the standard of their beef 
cattle up to the high point already attained in this 
country. 

No longer ago than ten years, cattle were not 
acceptable as collateral except by banks in the West- 
ern cattle centers. 

Today, cattle are standard collateral for loans, 
approved by the Treasury of the United States Gov- 
ernment and acceptable everywhere, as cattle are as 
good as gold all over the world; and a cattle enter- 
prise managed with ability and integrity is the safest 
business known. 



LOUISIANA BEEF CATTLE 

There are diseases to which cattle are subject; but 
these, like the diseases to which mankind is subject, 
are now controlled by science, and can be quickly 
eradicated, even though a foothold is once gained; 
and that a foothold should be gained at all is as much 
beyond the bounds of reason as that the cities of New 
York and Chicago should, in this advanced age, be 
devastated by a scourge of cholera, smallpox, yellow 
fever, or what not. 

According to official estimates of the United States 
Government, in 19 lo there were 41,178,000 head of 
beef cattle in the United States, having a value of 
$785,261,000, while on January i, 1917, there were 
40,849,000 head of beef cattle, having a value of 
$1,465,786,000; a decrease in supply, but an increase 
in value, within seven years, of 86.66 per cent 

In addition to superior natural conditions, the 
United States, on account of the great distance to 
other countries where cattle can be raised success- 
fully, is protected against competition, at all times 
and under all conditions. 

The United States for a quarter of a century was 
the world's greatest export nation, and this trade has 
fallen off only in recent times, because of the shortage 
at home. 

Our export business well illustrates the changing 
conditions in the cattle industry, and the record of 
live cattle exported from Chicago is a notable 
example, namely: 

Cattle 

Exports in 1905 321,301 

Exports in 1912 23,006 

Exports in 1913 . . 260 

Exports in 1914 182 

This table show s that the export trade was virtually 
extinct a year before the European War began ; and if 

[8] 



LOUISIANA BEEF CATTLE 

revived, it will be because of exorbitant prices brought 
about by the abnormal European demand, due to the 
depletion of the cattle herds abroad. 

Official statistics show that prior to the European 
War 90.55 per cent of all the European cattle were 
within the boundaries of the now-belligerent countries. 

The records at that time, covering both beef cattle 
and dairy-herds, were as follows: 

Russia 36,237,000 

Germany 20,944,000 

Austria-Hungary 17,787,883 

France 12,286,849 

United Kingdom 12,030,789 

Turkey 6,726,000 

Italy. . 6,198,861 

Rumania 2,667,000 

Belgium 1,831,000 

Even prior to the war, the world-supply of cattle 
was diminishing, and now the herds of these nations, 
representing nine-tenths of the European supply, are 
depleted as never before, while the one-tenth remain- 
ing supply of the neighboring neutral nations is 
reduced by the drafts of the warring powers. 

The inmiense demand in recent years has caused 
the marketing of vast numbers of the best improved 
cattle in the United States, including great inroads 
upon the breeding herds, as cattle growers have 
marketed their stock without regard to the future, 
looking solely to the large immediate profits. 

The depletion and deterioration of the breeding 
herds is a source of great danger, as it cannot fail to 
result in a still further decrease in production, and 
threatens to seriously impair the meat supply of the 
American people. 

As an infinitely worse condition prevails in the 
other cattle-producing countries of the world, it is 

[91 



LOUISIANA BEEF CATTLE 

obvious that we cannot look to any outside source of 
supply, either to replenish our herds, or to provide 
our meat food requirements. 

The increased cost of production in the North has 
resulted in the great advancement of the dairying- 
industry, to meet the American food requirements. 

In 1850 the milch cows on American farms num- 
bered about 6,000,000. This number was increased 
to 8,500,000 in i860, and to about 13,000,000 in 1880; 
and the census of 1900 showed 17,100,000. In 1907, 
they numbered 20,625,000, and January i, 1917, 
22,768,000, or more than one-third of our entire cattle 
herds. 

The change from beef-cattle raising to dairying is 
most noticeable in the Eastern and the North Central 
States, w^here the lack of pasturage and the increased 
cost of forage make the production of beef less profit- 
able than formerly, while the proximity to large 
centers of population and great cities has greatly 
stimulated the demand for dairy products. 

In some sections of the country dairying has en- 
croached to such an extent on the beef cattle industry 
that the latter has ceased to be a factor of importance 
in those localities. 

The beef cattle industry of the North is divided into 
two departments: first, producing in the Far West; 
second, preparing for market in the Middle West. 

The Western producer can only provide grazing, and 
must then ship to the Middle West feeder, who raises 
the corn with which he prepares the cattle for market. 

The shortness of the grazing season makes it im- 
possible to put a thousand-pound beef on the market 
in a year; consequently the stock must be shipped to 
the Middle West in September, October or November, 
to be fattened and prepared for the market. 

The breeding herds and the stock not ready for 
shipment to the feeders of the Middle West exist on 



LOUISIANA BEEF CATTLE 

the thin grasses, through eight months — from Sep- 
tember to June. 

These sections of arid soil and thin vegetation are 
further handicapped by the winters of intense cold, 
and of enforced housing and feeding; for, during six 
or seven months, and even eight months, of each year, 
there is scant vegetation to support animal life, and 
the struggle is a severe one to sustain life itself against 
the encroachments of the bitter temperature which so 
long prevails. 

If the Middle West farmer should go into cattle- 
raising, his position would be almost identical with 
that of the cattle grower of the Far West, as his 
pasturage would be exhausted in October, and it 
would be necessary to feed the cattle until May; 
otherwise, his loss would be tremendous through 
partial starvation and exposure to inclement weather, 
and he could not count upon the survival of more 
than 75 per cent of his herd from one pasturing 
season to the next. 

The farmer of the Middle West has six months of 
open weather, which must be devoted exclusively to 
planting, cultivating and harvesting his corn crop, 
and this crop takes up his land, leaving no acreage 
available for summer pasturage. 

He produces corn in the summer, and begins feeding 
in the fall. According to the quality of cattle received 
from the Far West, he feeds 60, 90, and up to 120 
days, when they are ready for market, and, according 
to the old saying, are "corn sold on the hoof." 

Even the adoption of intensive methods does not 
enable the Northern grower to successfully compete 
with the Southern grower, because production in the 
North is limited to one-half the year, and the other 
half is wholly unproductive, during which period his 
stores are being consumed, without any returns what- 
ever. 

[II] 



LOUISIANA BEEF CATTLE 

To house cattle during the winter is scarcely better 
than to leave them exposed to the rigors of climate, as 
confinement brings the scourge of tuberculosis; where- 
as in the South, and wherever life is spent in the open, 
cattle enjoy immunity from this plague. 

Furthermore, the year-round supply of green food 
in the South is naturally conducive to the health and 
well-being of all animals, whereas in the North, for 
several months in the year, only concentrated food is 
available. 

"The South, with her short, mild winters, and her 
abundance of grasses, can grow young cattle cheaper 
than the North." — W. J. Spillman, Chief of the 
Bureau of Farm Management, United States Depart- 
ment of Agriculture. 

A mild climate, luxuriant pastures, a great variety 
of forage crops, a year-round supply of green food, and 
living outdoors all the year, are the factors that make 
Southern Louisiana the ideal cattle-raising section of 
the United States. 

James Wilson, former Secretary of the United States 
Department of Agriculture, at the National Live Stock 
Show held in New Orleans in 1916, said: 

**You have as fine domestic animals in the State of 
Louisiana today as you will find anywhere; the finest 
breeds of cattle — Holstein and others, as well as 
American breeds of Herefords, which are an improve- 
ment over the English Hereford." 

In the corn belt the lands are not so productive in 
grains and pasture crops as the alluvial lands of 
Louisiana. 

In the North the growing season for crops does not 
exceed six months; in Louisiana the productive period 
is twelve months. 

In Northern states, animals can be pastured in the 
fields during six or seven months only; in Louisiana 
the animals may pasture in the open the whole year. 



LOUISIANA BEEF CATTLE 

In the North, extensive and costly barns and 
equipment are essential for winter shelter and feeding, 
and vast quantities of grain, hay, ensilage, and other 
foods, must be raised and stored, as the period of 
winter-feeding extends over six months; in Louisiana, 
open sheds facing south provide all the shelter needed, 
as aside from cold rains at intervals during February 
or March, there are no rigors of climate. 

Careful estimates by farm experts, and by authori- 
ties on cattle, place the cost of production in Louisiana 
at less than 60 per cent of the cost in the most favored 
corn-belt states. 

There is no winter here, as understood in the North. 
Frost is a rarity, frequently being absent for several 
years, and is never severe; the rainfall is well dis- 
tributed and averages 60 inches a year; extremes of 
temperature are very rare; the average for January is 
59 degrees, and for July, 82 degrees, over the Gulf 
Coast area of Southern Louisiana; and vegetation 
flourishes the year round. 

The cost of summer feeding in Southern Louisiana, 
as compared with summer feeding in the corn-belt 
states, shows a difference of about 25 per cent in favor 
of the former. 

In winter feeding, the difference is altogether in 
favor of Louisiana. Furthermore, practically none of 
the food consumed here is required to keep up the 
animal heat, whereas 30 per cent of the food given 
Northern cattle during the winter is absorbed by this 
requirement alone. 

According to the United States Department of 
Agriculture, the cost of ensilage in the Northern 
states ranges from $1.50 to $4 per ton, and it is 
generally conceded that corn ensilage in the Middle 
West costs an average of $2.50 per ton. 

On the alluvial lands of Southern Louisiana it has 
been proved that ensilage can be produced at 50 cents 

[13] 



LOUI SI ANA 



BEEF 



CATTLE 



to $1.50 per ton, and the yield per acre is two crops 
of ten to twenty tons each, as against one crop of five 
to ten tons in the North. 

According to the Bureau of Plant Industry, the 
best bluegrass pastures of the North will carry only 
one head of cattle to two acres for about six months 
of the year; whereas on the alluvial lands of Louisiana, 
Bermuda grass and lespedeza combined forms perma- 
nent pasture which will carry several head of cattle 
ten months on a single acre. 

With a network of waterways and railroads, nearer 
the great consuming markets of the East than any 
other important cattle-growing section, and but a 
short distance from Chicago and the important 
markets of the Middle States, Southern Louisiana 
occupies a strategic commercial position of great 
money-value to those who raise cattle, as well as 
other products. 

Out of six thousand members of the American 
Hereford Society, a growler from the Gulf Coast took 
the greatest number of prizes for a herd of Hereford 
cattle, and also took the grand championship prize 
for a Hereford bull, against the whole of the United 
States, which shows the merit of this section of 
country. 

The market today requires quality, and experience 
has proved that the greatest profit comes through 
producing quality. 

The day of the inferior, lightweight animal, which 
was marketed at two to three and one-half years old, 
has passed. 

The requirement now is for high-grade, one-year- 
old stock, weighing an average of 1,000 pounds. 

This stock can be produced in Louisiana under 
organized methods, at a cost of 4>^ cents per pound, 
delivered at the market, and will bring a price of 10 
cents per pound. 



[14: 



LOUISIANA BEEF CATTLE 

Prior to the Civil War tiie best talent in America 
was devoted to agricultural pursuits, which offered 
the greatest opportunity for making large wealth — 
as wealth was counted in those days. 

Afterward came the manufacturing era, which 
attracted the genius of the country and brought about 
the perfection of methods and combinations in almost 
every known line, with the result that no longer is there 
any general field of opportunity therein. 

Another era has now arrived, which again focuses 
the minds of thinking men upon the greatest of all 
problems — supplying the human race with food — 
because of the imperative need of increasing the 
world's food supply, and because of the large profit 
therein. 

In the United States today, the production of live 
stock is the greatest field of opportunity open to men 
of brains and capital; and it is, above all, the one 
industry that now attracts the genius of men of large 
affairs, and the great aggregations of capital. 

In 1895 the average price of beef cattle in the 
principal markets of this country was $4.40 per 
hundredweight; in 1900, it had increased to $5.80; in 
1907 the average was $7.60; in 1910, $8.85; in 191 1, 
$9.35; in 1912, $10.25; in 1915, $11.60; and in 1916, 
about $1 1 .90 per hundredweight. 

The foregoing market prices tell the story of the 
cattle industry from a financial standpoint. 

The following prices paid in 1901 and in 1916 for 
prize-winning exhibition beeves — at the International 
Live Stock Exposition held annually in Chicago, at 
the Union Stock Yards — well illustrate the trend of 
the cattle market: 

In 1901, the Grand Champion carload of fat cattle 
was two-year-old stock, weighing an average of 1,497 
pounds, and sold in the auction ring at $12 per 
hundredweight. 

[15] 



LOUISIANA 



BEEF 



CATTLE 



In 191 6, the Grand Champion carload of fat cattle 
was one-year-old stock, weighing an average of 1,146 
pounds, and sold in the auction ring at $28 per 
hundredweight. 

In 1901, the Grand Champion Steer was two years 
old, weighed 1,600 pounds, and sold in the auction 
ring at 50 cents per pound. 

In 1916, the Grand Champion Steer was one year 
old, weighed 1,120 pounds, and sold in the auction 
ring at $1.75 per pound. 

The following top prices were paid in the auction 
ring of the Exposition for "show cattle" of various 
weights: 

Per Hundred- 
Cattle Weighing Price in weight 

900 to 1050 pounds 1901 $ 8.70 

900 to 1050 pounds 1916 1775 

1050 to 1200 pounds 1901 9.50 

1050 to 1200 pounds 1916 28.00 

1200 to 1350 pounds 1901 8.75 

1200 to 1350 pounds 1916 20.00 

1350 to 1500 pounds .1901 12.00 

1350 to 1500 pounds 1916 18.50 

1500 to 1900 pounds 1901 9.30 

1500 to 1900 pounds 1916 15.75 



il6l 



LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 

llllllllllllllllllllllllllii||iii|||i 



002 819 448 1 ( 



